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<h2 id="apt-data-services">APT Data Services</h2> <p>APT Data Services was founded in London by Peter White (publisher) and Tim Palmer (editor) in 1984.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> Peter White was previously the editor of <i>Datalink Magazine</i> from 1978. Palmer had worked as an engineer at <a href="/facts/General_Electric_Company/kvuCGYSg">GEC</a> before changing course and starting his publishing career as a journalist on <i><a href="/facts/Computer_Weekly/CJcl4MpG">Computer Weekly</a></i>. He then moved to the UK division of Dutch publishing company <a href="/facts/Nielsen_Holdings/3kzeFfop">VNU</a> and its then weekly title <i>Infomatics</i>. It was Palmer who persuaded VNU to launch an <i>Infomatics</i> spin-off title, <i>Infomatics Daily Bulletin</i>, in 1980.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> Four years later White and Palmer formed their own company to publish a rival daily, <i>Computergram International</i>, five days a week. Subscriptions were priced at £450 per year.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> </p><p>The first issue, published on 13 August 1984, included a report detailing the forthcoming launch of the <a href="/facts/IBM_Personal_Computer_AT/YEVHpWKF">IBM PC AT</a> on the following day. Among the subscribers was Microsoft co-founder <a href="/facts/Bill_Gates/z16t4m7s">Bill Gates</a>, who was heard to describe the publication as “that little yellow sheet”.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> The four (and occasionally six or eight) page newsletter was published, printed and mailed from APT's London offices on the top floor of 12 Sutton Row in <a href="/facts/Soho/Rawkwhdy">Soho</a>. It was also available on early electronic public access databases such as <a href="/facts/Micronet_800/23eRbenF">Micronet 800</a>, <a href="/facts/Prestel/ov6p8pzW">Prestel</a> and <a href="/facts/Telecom_Gold/4AY50p9E">Telecom Gold</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> and then via the <a href="/facts/World_Wide_Web/wvnTrWFq">World Wide Web</a> from the early 1990s. </p><p>APT Data subsequently launched a series of other IT titles, including the weekly <i>Unigram.x</i> newsletter (covering the rise of the <a href="/facts/Unix/0pNL2seI">Unix</a> operating system), and the monthly <i>Computer Business Review</i>, <i>Software Futures</i> and <i>Unix News</i> magazines. By 1997 the company name and website had changed from APT to ComputerWire. The last paper copy of <i>Computergram International</i> was printed in April 1998, though the electronic service continued well into the 2000s.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> A core team of APT editors left the company at the end of 1999 to form the IT industry analyst firm <a href="/facts/451_Group/eQ8F3Tdz">The 451 Group</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="sale-to-datamonitor">Sale to Datamonitor</h2> <p>Tim Palmer died in 1997.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a> APT Data Services was finally sold off to its primary investor and advisor, Interregnum, for just £44,000 (€68,900) in June 2002,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a> and then passed on to Datamonitor, which agreed to absorb the £1.02m in debt.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a> The daily service was merged into <i>Computer Business Review</i>, which was re-branded as <i>Tech Monitor</i> in 2021.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14"><sup>14</sup></a> <i>Tech Monitor </i> is now part of the New Statesman Media Group (owned by Mike Danson, as Datamonitor was before its sale to <a href="/facts/Informa/tQwFtAr7">Informa</a> in 2007).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15"><sup>15</sup></a> </p><p>In 2003 Peter White launched an industry analyst company, Rethink Technology Research.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16"><sup>16</sup></a> He died in September 2023.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17"><sup>17</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>'Computer Business Review Has Some News…', Tech Monitor, 10 March, 2021 <a href="https://techmonitor.ai/leadership/strategy/computer-business-review-has-some-news" target="_blank">https://techmonitor.ai/leadership/strategy/computer-business-review-has-some-news</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Computergram archive: About <a href="https://tuneimages.wordpress.com/about/" target="_blank">https://tuneimages.wordpress.com/about/</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Guy Kewney. 'Tim Palmer, greatest computer press reporter, is dead', ZDNET, 5 June 1997 <a href="/wiki/Guy_Kewney" target="_blank">/wiki/Guy_Kewney</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Jack Schofield. 'All the news too late to print', in The Guardian, 1 November 1984, p. 21 <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Tim Palmer obituary, Computergram International, Issue No. 3,175, 5 June 1997 <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Guy Kewney. 'Tim Palmer, greatest computer press reporter, is dead', ZDNET, 5 June 1997 <a href="/wiki/Guy_Kewney" target="_blank">/wiki/Guy_Kewney</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Jack Schofield. 'All the news too late to print', in The Guardian, 1 November 1984, p. 21 <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>'Tim Palmer anniversary', ComputerWire, June 3, 1998 <a href="https://techmonitor.ai/technology/tim_palmer_anniversary" target="_blank">https://techmonitor.ai/technology/tim_palmer_anniversary</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>Dawn Hayes. 'Who said internet start-ups were easy?', in Sunday Business, 30 April 2000, p. 18 <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>'Tim Palmer, Computergram International Editor, 1984-1997', Computer Business Review, 5 June 1997 <a href="https://techmonitor.ai/technology/tim_palmer_computergram_international_editor_1984_1997" target="_blank">https://techmonitor.ai/technology/tim_palmer_computergram_international_editor_1984_1997</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>Guy Kewney. 'Tim Palmer, greatest computer press reporter, is dead', ZDNET, 5 June 1997 <a href="/wiki/Guy_Kewney" target="_blank">/wiki/Guy_Kewney</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:12"><p>Ben Rossi. 'ComputerWire sold to Interregnum', Information Age <a href="https://www.information-age.com/computerwire-sold-to-interregnum-for-44000-23465/#:~:text=ComputerWire%20sold%20to%20Interregnum%20for%2044%2C000%20%2D%20Information%20Age" target="_blank">https://www.information-age.com/computerwire-sold-to-interregnum-for-44000-23465/#:~:text=ComputerWire%20sold%20to%20Interregnum%20for%2044%2C000%20%2D%20Information%20Age</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:13"><p>William Hutchings. 'VCs desperate to find any way out', in Financial News, 21 October, 2002 <a href="https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/vcs-desperate-to-find-any-way-out-20021021" target="_blank">https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/vcs-desperate-to-find-any-way-out-20021021</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:14"><p>'Computer Business Review Has Some News…', Tech Monitor, 10 March, 2021 <a href="https://techmonitor.ai/leadership/strategy/computer-business-review-has-some-news" target="_blank">https://techmonitor.ai/leadership/strategy/computer-business-review-has-some-news</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:15"><p>James Robinson. 'Mike Danson takes full ownership of New Statesman', in The Guardian, 14 April, 2009 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/apr/14/new-statesman-ownership-mike-danson-geoffrey-robinson" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/apr/14/new-statesman-ownership-mike-danson-geoffrey-robinson</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:16"><p>Tommy Flanagan. 'Peter White – founder, visionary, maverick – dies suddenly', Rethink Technology Research, 20 September, 2023 <a href="https://rethinkresearch.biz/articles/peter-white-founder-visionary-maverick-dies-suddenly/" target="_blank">https://rethinkresearch.biz/articles/peter-white-founder-visionary-maverick-dies-suddenly/</a> <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:17"><p>Matthew Gooding. 'Computer Business Review founder Peter White dies', Techmonitor.ai, 19 September, 2023 <a href="https://techmonitor.ai/leadership/computer-business-review-founder-peter-white-dies" target="_blank">https://techmonitor.ai/leadership/computer-business-review-founder-peter-white-dies</a> <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>